Some of the winners of Sahitya Akademi Awards at a felicitation function in New Delhi on Tuesday. From left are: Abdul Vaheed `Kamal', P. Sri Ramachandrudu, Prem Prakash, C. Subramaniam, son of the late Chinnamannur Chellappa, and the wife of the late Tirumala Ramachandra. _ Photo: S. Arneja.

NEW DELHI, FEB. 19. Amid a congregation of eminent litterateurs, 22 authors from different languages were honoured with the Sahitya Akademi Awards, 2001, during the Festival of Letters here today.

The prestigious award went to the renowned Assamese writer, Mahim Bora, for his work `Edhani Mahir Hanhi' which revolves around a woman protagonist with a deep sense of joy and grief. Atin Bandyopadhyaya, who undertook an arduous journey from a truck cleaner to a literary driver, received an award for his collection of 50 short stories `Panchashati Galpo'.

The grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, an eminent historian, biographer and former Rajya Sabha member, Rajmohan Gandhi, was presented with the award for his biography `Rajaji: A Life'. A very down to earth man, Gandhi said his work was a tribute to Dr. Rajagopalachari, a visionary, and a creative personality. "The subject itself draw me towards analysing and investigating documents revealing every aspect of Rajaji,'' said Mr. Gandhi.

A visharad in Hindi and Masters in English Literature, Dhiruben Gordhandas Patel, has been honoured with the Sahitya Akademi award for her novel `Agantuk'. Said to be a well-knit and finely structured novel, the work deals with a person who returns back to the social world from the ascetic world and is ultimately drowned in utter disillusionment.

The Sahitya Akademi award for Hindi went to Alka Saraogi, a full-time writer, for her novel `Kali-Katha: Via Bypass'. The work reflects the trimmed culture in modern society. A very seasoned writer from Bangalore, S. Seshagiri Rao, was awarded for his work, `English Sahitya Charitre'.

Well versed in Urdu, English, Persian and Hindi, the writer from Kashmir, Ghulam Mohiud-Din Gowhar, was posthumously awarded the prize for his contribution to the development of the Kashmiri language through his verse `Rikhah'. The award in Konkani went to Madhav Borcar from Goa, for his collection of poetry `Yaman'.

Born in Madhubani district of Bihar, the late Babua Ji Jha `Agnat' was posthumously awarded the prize for his Maithili epic `Pratijna Pandav'. The epic, having 11 cantos in all, is based on Sabha Parva of Mahabharata, spreading the message of peace, asking to relinquish the weapons of destruction.

The award in Malayalam went to `Attoor Ravi Varmayute Kavitakal' by Attoor Ravi Verma. Ningombam Sunita, a writer from Manipur, was awarded for her work, `Khongji Makhol' -- describing the simple life of women in rural areas of Manipur.

Other writers to have received the award are Virendra Kesar, for his work in `Dogri; Rajan Ganpati Gavas', for his novel in Marathi; Lakhi Devi, for her collection of short stories in Nepali; and Pratibha Satpathy for her poetry in Oriya. The award in Punjabi went to a collection of poems `Shabdant' by Dev. For his Rajasthani work `Gharano', envisaging a harmony among different religions, Abdul Vaheed `Kamal' was chosen for the award.

P. Sri Ramachandrudu's collection of essays in Sanskrit `Ko Vai Rasah' and Prem Prakash's collection of poems `Bhagat' also got awards. The late Chinnamannur Chellappa's Tamil novel `Sutanthira Daagam' was also recognised. (The award was received by his son C. Subramaniam.) Other awardees are the late Tirumala Ramachandra (received by his wife), and Naiyer Masud, whose work `Taoos Chaman Ki Maina', was chosen as the best among Urdu literary pieces.